| THE KNESSET
With David Levi and Asher Derei at the Final Table, the rooting section looked like the Israeli congress.
There were 300 entries, 27 were paid. Total prize pool: $291,000. Each player started with 2,000 in chips so there were 600,000 total chips in play.
FINAL TABLE
Seat/Player/Hometown/Chips
Seat 1 Johnny Landreth Lanett AL 13,500
Seat 2 Sam Grizzle Las Vegas NV 8,100
Seat 3 K D Adams Las Vegas NV 22,800
Seat 4 Blair Rodman Las Vegas NV 54,200
Seat 5 James Van Alstyne Las Vegas NV 106,400
Seat 6 John Barbieri Camden NJ 263,600
Seat 7 David Levi Las Vegas NV 17,700
Seat 8 Asher Derei Los Angeles CA 72,900
Seat 9 Leon Kunkel Miami Lakes FL 44,200
There were 2 minutes left in the 300 ante 1,000/2,000 blinds
After finishing up around 3 am when Joe Berry was knocked out in 10th, there were only two minutes left in the 1k/2k blinds. Surely, all 9 players who'd survived for 15 hours could last for two more minutes. You know surely, nice lady.
Well, Sam Grizzle and Johnny Landreth accomplished the nearly impossible. They played 14 hours and 58 minutes on Day 1 and were both out in under two minutes on Day 2. Should have stood in bed, comes to mind.
On the first hand, both Grizzle and Landreth went all-in for their respective starting chip counts. Sam was in the small blind and flopped top pair with his 9 6. The flop came 9 5 3. Sam's hand was good for third. Johnny Landreth had the button and he flopped a set of 3's. That was good for second. On that same first hand, yesterday's chip leader John Barbieri flopped a set of 5's for set over set. You see something new in poker every day. That was something new for a first hand at a Final Table for me.
One hand, two out. Seven left. Bizarre. Now we could get it out of the mud with a 500 ante, 1k/2k blinds. Good thing those two guys missed that huge increase in per hand cost.
That hand is a perfect example of why No Limit Hold'em has taken over for Limit as the game to watch. In Limit, there would have been difficult to get either player all-in.
In these PC times, I'm having a very hard time teasing anyone. Everybody is so damn sensitive. When I sang the tune to "Ya Gotta Have Friends," on hand 20 when David Levi raised all-in from the small blind over his dear friend Asher Derei's big blind, Asher complained that he and David "play straight up" against each other. Maybe I cost David a fold, because Asher called the few thousand chip raise with Q 9 offsuit. I'm TEASING! David had a monster dominating K 8 and left in 7th when his 'friend' hit a Queen on the flop.
Now David could take his seat as the Speaker of the Knesset, with buddy Tomer Benvenisti and friends, to heckle the survivors.
Two hands later, Leon Kunkel, knuckled under in 6th. Like several at this table, Leon couldn't win a hand. He raised all-in from the small blind for 9k with the 9 8 of Hearts. Why not? He's a poker dealer in Florida. Blair Rodman called Leon as did the overnight 'Caliente' John 'Gato' Barbieri. When the flop came 6 4 3 with two clubs, Barbieri went all-in to get Rodman out and be heads up with Kunkel. John had the A 5 of Spades which made him an open ended straight draw. The Ace high was golden, but an Ace came on the turn to seal the deal.
It looked like a short night when on hand 32, K D Adams (not Lang) dove for cover into 5th. K D, who's family is known as the Adams Family, reraised Gato another 10k all-in with A Q offsuit. The hot guy, John Barbieri, called with pocket 9's which walked of course. He couldn't lose at the time and John had an enormous chip lead. That was to change very quickly.
Four hands later, we were REALLY short handed when the newest poker author Blair Rodman went out in 4th. Blair's new book won't be called 'The Witch Project' which would have been cute. It's yet another in an unending stream of poker tournament strategy books.
This one's called "KILL PHIL." Really, it is! What a title. Blair wants the addition to the title, Part 1, but the publisher from Huntington Press said no. The book should be out by the WSOP, so you can get an autographed copy from Blair Rodman.
CAAAAN'T Wait!
Just kidding. If anyone can actually write something useful about tournament poker, it would be Blair. A very intelligent man, and a genius for a poker player where intelligence is rare. Rodman couldn't rebound from all the pots John Barbieri was stacking. When James Van Alstyne raised under the gun to 12k, Blair came over the top all-in for about 50k more in the big blind with the J 10 of Clubs. (That move is not in the book, I hope). James gladly turned over his two red Aces. See ya, Blair. He's a real gentleman of poker. Don't get hand cramps signing all those books.
With all the driftwood off the beach, we could get serious about the big money. This payout structure has small increments up to third place and then BOOM! The money doubles twice from third to first.
It was serious all right. John Barbieri, Asher Derei and James Van Alstyne battled three handed for almost two hours. At first it looked like Van Alstyne would do what he's done for the last six months, win a poker tournament. No one in poker has been hotter during that period. But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. James Van Alstyne lost. He had taken the chip with a running straight over Asher Derei. Meanwhile, John Barbieri was going card dead and appeared on his way out.
Asher was down to 40k in chips when he told me he would win the tournament. He had 1/15th of the chips at the time. I gave him 10-1. Stupid me. Asher Derei won the next six hands to get nearly even with Van Alstyne.
Then on hand 86, the worm turned.
I'M NOT CALLING ANYBODY A WORM! It's just an expression. Please!
James and Asher went all-in against each other, again. This time Van Alstyne had top pair with K 3. Asher had the 10 9 of Hearts. The board came K J 7 with two hearts when the money went in, then 10 on the turn and 8 on the river to give Asher a straight. Turn about is fair play. Now it was Derei with 400k. The Knesset was very happy on the sidelines.
James held on until hand 104 when he went all-in with K J of Diamonds versus pocket 9's. The nines were the nines. Heads up, Asher Derei had 426k to 174k for John Barbieri about a 5-2 chip lead.
To his credit, John turned down every type of deal Asher offered him. To play all-or-nothing for the $144,000 remaining prize pool. To save some and play for the rest. And when Barbieri got even a little later, to split the prize $72k each and play for the ring. John is a high stakes player in Atlantic City. He's not intimidated and obviously didn't need the extra money he was being offered. "Let's play," he'd keep saying after listening to the deal offer.
In the end, on hand 136, the tournament experience of Asher Derei won out. I asked Asher how he won in an interview for Nolan Dalla's report afterward. "I watched what he did when he had a hand and what he did when he didn't have a hand, then I used the information." Too bad Blair Rodman had already left. That was as about as succinct as any tournament strategy statement I've ever heard.
The information allowed Asher to call John's all-in reraise for an extra 40k with A 9 offsuit. Barbieri who almost never bet out or raised had been worn down to his last 60k and he shoved it with Q J offsuit.
The Knesset was pleased.
Official results:
1 Asher Derei $93,120
2 John Barbieri $51,215
3 James Van Alstyne $26,190
4 Blair Rodman $20,370
5 K D Adams $17,460
6 Leon Kunkel $14,550
7 David Levi $11,640
8 Johnny Landreth $8,730
9 Sam Grizzle $5,820
10-12th $3,490
Joe Berry
Myron Sulean
Lonnie Alexander
13-15th $2,910
Theodore Weiler
Tom McEvoy
Mike Heintschel
16-18th $$2,330
Kyle Holt
Joe Michelin
An Lu
19-27th $1,745
Chris Brannan
Larry Camacho
John Milone
Matt Curci
Jenny Kang
Dallas Troxell
Eric Holem
Nathan Pal
Nash Rizk
MikePaulle@PokerPages.com
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